Kuni Kuniaki, a cousin of the emperor emeritus and a member of an old collateral branch of the imperial family, died of pneumonia at 10:02 a.m. on November 5 in Tokyo, Kyodo News reported. He was 97.
Kuni was one of the 11 collateral imperial houses that lost their imperial status in 1947, when the postwar occupation stripped the branches of the imperial family of their titles. He was 18 at the time, TBS NEWS DIG reported.
He later served as chief priest of Ise Jingu, the shrine in Mie Prefecture dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu and regarded as the most sacred site in Shinto.
Houses that left the palace
The 1947 departure removed the collateral houses from the imperial family register, but their members have remained in public life, and some have kept ties to the palace and to Shinto institutions. Kuni's death leaves one fewer of that generation.